Old-time guns such as muzzle loading rifles have become popular among some gun collectors and others, including history devotees. A gun such as a muzzle loader requires a ramrod to load the gun with ball and powder as well as to clean the gun barrel. Not infrequently, the ramrod becomes stuck in the gun barrel with only about two inches of the ramrod normally protruding out from the muzzle, making it difficult for the user to grasp the ramrod to pull it out. Several tools are commonly used to pull out a stuck ramrod. There are different types of ramrods currently being used for muzzle loaders; some have threaded bores at one or both ends, e.g 8-32 and 10-32 threaded ends, and some do not. The threaded bores are used to attach accessories such as a cloth covered cleaning tips.
One tool is a pair of vise-grip pliers and a rag that can be used to clamp down on the tip section of the ramrod protruding out from the gun muzzle and then to pull the ramrod out with vise-grip pliers while the gun is firmly secured in a vise or is being firmly held by another person. The rag is placed between the jaws of the vise-grip pliers and the ramrod to prevent the jaws of the pliers from marring or damaging the ramrod.
A variation on the use of vise-grip pliers is to place the tip section of the ramrod in a vise secured to a heavy stationary object such as a workbench, being careful not to mar or otherwise damage the ramrod, and pulling on the gun to dislodge the ramrod.
Another tool is a commercially available ramrod puller made of brass and having two handles, each with a leather lined jaw at one end. The two handles are pivotally connected so that as the opposing leather lined jaws of the ramrod puller securely grasp the tip section of the ramrod by pulling the handles in a direction away from the gun, the ramrod can be pulled out of the gun barrel with two hands if the gun itself is securely held by another person or fastened to a fixed object.
The above tools must all be used with care to prevent marring or damage to the ramrod. Furthermore, these tools normally require a two-person operation or a one-person operation with at least a stationary vise to be successful. Consequently, a person out alone in the field would experience great difficulty in removing a ramrod stuck in the barrel of a muzzle loader.